A summit of regional leader in Kampala, Uganda, has come up with new plan to end the conflict in eastern DR Congo â€“ including the establishment of a multi-million dollar â€œTrust Fundâ€ to help the tens of thousands of refugees from the conflict.

An 8-point plan from the two-day summit attended by President Paul Kagame and DRC counterpart Joseph Kabila, sets out â€œvigorous efforts with a view to ensure that there is a complete halt to fightingâ€ in Eastern DRC. In addition, the summit also agreed on the â€œpossibility of sanctions against those who obstruct the peace processâ€.

Convened by Ugandaâ€™s President Yoweri Museveni, the talks were also attended by presidents Jakaya Kikwete (Tanzania), Pierre Nkurunziza (Burundi) and Kenyan vice-president Kalonzo Musyoka. The summit was organized under the auspices of the 11-member International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).

The leaders set up a â€œsub-committeeâ€ of defense ministers including Rwandaâ€™s own Gen James Kabarebe which will work on a detailed framework within a month outlining how the conflict will be ended. The committee will be headed by Ugandaâ€™s defense minister, Dr Crispus Kiyonga. Others are ministers from DRC, Angola, Burundi, the Republic of Congo and Tanzania.

This committee has been given two weeks to propose the plan, which should be submitted to the ICGLR Heads of State and Government in four weeks.

In what seems like open hostility to foreign participation, the leaders affirmed what was described as â€œhome-grown solutions to the problems of the Great Lakes Region through our established Regional Mechanismsâ€.

The same committee of defense ministers has also been tasked to come up with the details of the so called â€œneutral International Forceâ€. The ministers will determine who will be included on the force and what exactly it will do.

Even when the leaders affirmed â€œhome-grown solutionâ€, they also appealed for international assistance to cope with the tens of thousands of refugees. Aid agencies say more than 250,000 have been displaced in the past few months. Rwanda alone is home to more than 20,000 refugees â€“ an addition to 55,000 who have been living here for years.